More homes for Leamington and Warwick first-time buyers

Two planning applications for “brownfield” site developments involving nearly 190 new homes have been submitted to Warwick District Council.

The first application is from Deeley Properties in partnership with the Orbit Group and involves 102 low- cost, rented and shared ownership properties on part of the Sydenham Industrial Estate.

The council’s definition of “affordable” is properties that would be available for rent or be part of shared ownership schemes with companies like Orbit.

Low-cost homes – of which there would be 33 on the Sydenham site – are ones that might attract first-time buyers keen to get on the property ladder.

Old industrial buildings like Soanes car dealership have already been cleared to make way for the new homes on the edge of St Mary’s Road.

The Deeley application follows the rejection of its previous scheme last November.

At the time some members of Warwick District Council had doubts about the proximity of the proposed properties to the remaining industrial buildings and the possibility of noise nuisance.

As a result the overall plot was reduced in size allowing more space between the residential and commercial use of the land.

The properties themselves would be further away from the rest of the industrial buildings and future residents would have more landscaped green space fronting onto the Grand Union Canal.

A spokesman for Orbit said: “This development will provide a range of properties in a mix of affordable tenure types, giving local people the opportunity to buy or rent a new home which meets their needs.”

The second application due for consideration is for 85 new homes, ranging from one to four bedrooms, to be built on the old IBM site, presently known as Opus 40, on Birmingham Road, Warwick.

Developers Taylor Wimpey Midlands had withdrawn a previous application and have now resubmitted an amended plan.

Some 34 of the 85 two-storey properties would fall into the “affordable” or rented category.

Both planning applications fit in with the aims of Warwick District Council’s Local Plan to develop on brownfield - as opposed to greenfield sites - wherever possible.

This hasn’t been possible in farmland around Warwick where The Asps site for 900 homes between Europa Way and Banbury Road is currently the subject of a public inquiry.

Members of the Save Warwick campaign group, supported by Whitnash Town Council, Bishops Tachbrook parish council and the Leamington Society, have raised £30,000 to fund a barrister to represent their case against the district council’s approved Local Plan at a public inquiry.

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